If one has to get stuck in an airport, Singapore’s Changi is ideal. Anyone who has been through this airport will know it is an experience of the city itself. From retail, dining and entertainment to a brush with Nature, it has been equipped with almost everything a new-age traveller needs.
One among the world’s sustainable airports, Changi holds a special place in the Indian traveller’s route map. According to Peh Ke-Wei, Vice President (Passenger Development), Air Hub Development, Changi Airport Group, India is one of Changi’s fastest growing markets. In the first half of 2018 alone, India registered a growth of 13%, the strongest among Changi’s top 10 markets. The year before, it registered 4.3 million passenger movements between Singapore and India, again recording a growth of 16% from 2016, Ke-Wei adds.
The Free Singapore Tour is an offer popular with Indians. If you are in transit and have at least 5.5 hours to spare till your connecting flight, you can join one of two free 2.5 hours guided tours, with with 2 short stopovers. Travellers can choose between the The Heritage Tour, whcih runs 5 times a day and the City Sights Tour, which runs twice a day.
Then there is the Changi transit programme, which gives transit passengers travelling on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir or Air New Zealand a reward (S$20) for shopping at the airport.
This airport also offers an opportunity for a stopover holiday in Singapore when travellers visit Southeast Asia, or while en route to a long-haul destination. Promoted jointly by the Changi Airport Group and the Singapore Tourism Board, it gives passengers who book a stopover package a chance to win a complimentary one-way airport-hotel transfer and a mobile SIM card worth S$10 (₹500). Packages are available from S$63 (₹3,180).
With Terminal 4 opening in October 2017, Changi Airport’s handling capacity has increased to 82 million passengers yearly. “The terminal has a fully-automated departure process, with facial recognition technology. Fast and Seamless Travel (FAST), as it is termed, makes check-in, bag drop, immigration and boarding automated. T4 redefines passengers’ travel experience; they can enjoy the flexibility of checking in at their own convenience, without having to wait for counters to open,” says Ke-Wei.
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Changi is now constructing Terminal 5, which will increase its handling capacity by another 50 million. The terminal, the initial phase of which would be ready by 2030, will have a three-runway system.
Finally, there’s Jewel Changi Airport, a mixed-use development, is set to come up in 2019. It will combine Nature, leisure, shopping and dining opportunities, as well as hotel accommodation and airport facilities. Expect a 280 retail and food-and-beverage outlets with ‘special attractions’ such as Forest Valley, Canopy Park and Rain Vortex. The Forest Valley is a vast five-storey garden, which will have the country’s largest indoor-plant collection. Canopy Park is a huge indoor play space featuring bouncing and walking nets, giant slides and mazes. Still not impressed? Watch out for the Rain Vortex, said to be the world’s largest indoor waterfall, cascading from a height of 40 metres.
